Flashback Friday #255

My Dad



Those of you who have not heard, my dad passed away this Monday. I'm going to use this post to flashback to some of my Flashback Friday posts dealing with my dad.

This story is one of my fondest memories of my dad.

This story deals with one of our family bonding activities.

This story tells of Dad's reaction to discovering that I lied to him.

This story tells of my favorite practical joke that I played on Dad.

And finally, this story tells how dad got us indoor plumbing for the first time.

I'm going to miss Dad tremendously but watching how ALS had ravaged him over the last couple of years was absolutely heartbreaking. Rest in peace, Dad.

Flashback Friday #254

Speed & Gravel Roads Don't Mix

Welcome once again to another fast paced Flashback Friday. I say fast paced because this post deals with speeding, and what can happen if you're not a very experienced driver.

I've written several times about the Crook boys that lived beside us. Justa was the coolest thing this side of Antarctica. He ran with the "Hood" crowd. Skipping school & smoking dope was what he liked to do best. If he could do both, he was happy as a lark.

One day, as the bus stopped to pick us up for school, I didn't see Justa. I asked Sneaky where he was. "One of his friends stopped by in a van and picked him up. He told Mom that he was getting a ride to school, but I'll bet he doesn't make it there". I knew the friend that Sneaky was talking about. The kids called him "Bug". He was tall, thin & had stringy blond hair (Hmm. I just described Justa too). 

When we got to school, I checked out the parking lot for Bug's van. He drove the only white panel van in the school. He always said that there was a bed in the back. I don't know if there was or not because you couldn't trust most of what came out of his mouth.

About midway through the day, we heard the scream of sirens going by the west side of the school. The road that lead to the entrance of my school off the main highway, was paved only as far as the school grounds. It was gravel the rest of the way until you reached another highway about two miles away. 

Through the grapevine we heard that Bugs had been driving the van toward the school on the gravel part of the road. There is a pretty sharp curve before you get to the school property. He had his license about as long as I did (he was in my Drivers-Ed class) and he hit that curve too fast. It went into a skid and then started to roll. It has rolled at least three times before it came to rest on its top. Bugs & Justa were taken to the ER in an emergency squad. Fortunately, the injuries were mild compared to what they could have been. Bug suffered a broken arm, bruises & lacerations. Justa received a concussion, bruises & lacerations. The van was totaled. Do you think they learned anything from this. Nope.

Flashback Friday #253

 

Bart Moves Again

Hello, Welcome once again to "Minutia Matinee" where you get to hear about people that you don't know and places that you've never heard of. Today, I'll attempt to entertain you with a tale of horror. My best friend told me that he was moving.

I showed up at school like any other normal day.  I filed into my home room class where Bart is talking to a couple of other kids. He motions me over.

"I was just telling them that my family is moving." said Bart. Were moving to a different town. Dad says our landlord won't do what he's supposed to do so he's not staying another month in that house."

With this information, my heart nearly stops beating. My best friend moving away? Say it ain't so.

After seeing the effect of this bomb that he dropped on the folks that were listening to him, he smiled and said, "We're moving from Marengo back to Sparta." A collective sigh went up. Sparta was still in our school district. Bart was moving away, just moving. They lived in Sparta the first time I went to his house.He was going to live so close to the school that he could walk there. Which to him was a great relief because he had a girl on his bus that he called "Frog" that annoyed him to no end.

I don't mind if my friends move, I just don't like them to move away.

Flashback Friday #251

Going To Church


Greeting to all who just happened to stumble by this way. If you read last week's post (and if you didn't, you really should for this to make sense.), you'll see how my best friend, Bart, tricked me into attending church with him. But there's more to the story...

Sunday morning came and I got dress, dreading the decision I had made to got to church with Bart & his family. I had packed a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt, not realizing that I would be going to church the next morning. I was told not to worry about what I was wearing.

It took about 30 minutes to drive to their church. We passed several churches along the way. Why were we going so far away?  I had only ever been to two churches before, not counting a VBS that I attended when I was about seven. Whenever the church down the road from us (the Wesleyan church where Aunt Shelly went) was giving away something, I would go for the freebies. Then I went with Doris just because she was pretty. It was Pentecostal. This was neither. It was some church that started with an "A". Abostol, Apostoc, no, wait, Apostolic. Yeah, that's it.

When we got there, I noticed something strange. All the people called each other "Brother" and "Sister". Was everyone in this church related? I was told that since we were all God's children, that made us brothers & sisters. OK. Whatever.

Bart escorted me down to the Senior High Sunday School class where I saw several of the kids that I had seen at the hayride the night before. The teacher was a big, burly guy they called "Brother Simmons". He was quite jovial and laughed a lot. Sunday School was over before I knew it and, unlike Aunt Shelly's church, there wasn't more church after Sunday School. We piled in the car and headed home.

In the car, Bart's mom asked if I wanted to stay for lunch. She was planning to make pot roast, mashed potatoes & green beans. Even the picky eater that I was liked all of those offerings. I told her that I'd stay.

While she was cooking lunch, Bart showed me the movie player that they had check out of the library. This was the days before home VHS players. It was an interesting contraption. Most of the "movies" that came with the player we greatly abridged versions of classics. When you can get through "Around the World in 80 Days" in about 30 minutes, that what I call abridged. There were also several "Little Rascal" silent shorts. We watched these until it was time to eat.

After lunch, we commenced to watching more while Bart's mom cleaned up. About 5:30, Bart's mom asked if I was going with them to church that evening. She said that if they tried to get me home before they went to church, they would be late for church. What? Church at night? Who had ever heard of such a thing? Aunt Shelly's church didn't do that. If the church that I went to with Doris met at night, I hadn't gone.

Great. Here I am again getting guilted into going to church again. They had fed me well and I hated to make them late. Oh, OK. I'll go. Once again we made the 30 minute trip and got there just before church started. I think there had been some behind-the-scene planning going. They sang some songs and then the pastor, "Brother Kramden" preached.

I couldn't tell you what he preached, but I was convicted. However I wasn't going to go up and pray. So I put my head on the back of the pew in front of me. Shortly thereafter, the pastor came over to me and asked if I had ever been to a Pentecostal church.Pentecostal, this wasn't Pentecostal, it was Apostolic. I told him that I had attended a church in Mt. Gilead that was Pentecostal. He said the pastor there had left this church to begin a work there.Wait. Apostolic and Pentecostal were the same type of church? I was assured by the pastor that they were. They followed the Apostles doctrine and were Pentecostal in their worship.

 I thought to myself' This is really weird. I've only been to two churches in the last two years and they are the same denomination. Coincidence? I don't think so. I think God is trying to tell me something." I made up my mind right then & there that I would start coming with Bart's family every Sunday. That was the 1st Sunday of November in 1980. I'm still at that church.

Flashback Friday #250

The Hayride



Greetings one & all. Yes, It is really me. This isn't a trained chimp pounding on the keyboard. Well, maybe it is. You'll have to keep reading to really find out.

Annnnyway, as I alluded to in my last Flashback Friday post, this post entails the trickery of my best friend Bart and the fast one he pulled on me. I have never forgotten and thank him frequently.

In late October, Bart asked me if I would like to go on a hayride with his family on Saturday. I hadn't been on a hayride in years and enjoyed the last one I was on. He told me that there would hot dogs, cider, and desserts galore. If you know me in real life, you know I love desserts galore. I told him that I'd go. He even made arrangements for me to stay the night at his house.

His folks picked me up about 4PM and we made the drive to Ashley, where the hayride was being held. We we got there, there were lots of people there and he introduced me around. There were folks from every age range and there were even some girls around my age. It was looking better all the time. Oh, and he didn't exaggerate about the eats.

I played football, tag, and played all through the barn on the property. I was having a really good time. The hayride wasn't slated until after dark. Several bales of hay were thrown in the back of a semi trailer and we would ride on the trailer. It was a flatbed trailer with sides, so nobody would fall off.

As night was falling, Bart told me that everyone was gathering around a bonfire before setting out on the hayride. With that he sprinted off and disappeared into the crowd. When I got up to the fire. A man said that we were going to sing a few songs before we left. I was expecting something like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" or "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean" Boy, was I ever in for a surprise. They started sing CHURCH songs.Bart knew that I wanted nothing to do with church and he had tricked me into attending a church function. I was steaming mad. I spotted Bart across the fire. He smiled real big at me. I mouthed the word "You'll Pay" to him as I hit him with a killer gaze.

After the singing, we piled into the semi trailer. I then found out the we weren't just going around the block, but the truck was heading to Mt. Vernon with all the kids. The parents would pick the kids up at the church. Bart told me that the driver would drop us off at his house on the way.

When we got to his house, and were beginning to settle in, his mom asked me "Would you like to go to church with us in the morning?" I glanced at Bart. I thought to myself, "I'm staying in their house, I'll be eating their food. What am I going to say? "No, take me home." I slowly exhaled and reluctantly said "Yeah, I'll go." But I promise you, my heart wasn't into it. As I laid down to go to sleep, I had no idea of the life changing events that awaited me.

Flashback Friday #249

Starting 11th Grade



Greetings to all and welcome back.

In today's post, I become an upperclassman. 11th grade was a good year for me. The vast majority of my older antagonist has graduated and a fresh start awaited me. Plus I had a good core of friends that also were returning.

When we were making out our schedules in the spring of our Sophomore year, I told Bart to try to pull a fast one on the office staff. Bart had taken Home Ec. I in his Sophomore year. I had taken Home Ec. I in my Freshman year and Home Ec. II in my Sophomore year. I told him to put down Home Ec. III on his schedule so we could be in the same class. He did, and we got to be in the same class, even though he hadn't taken Home Ec. II. Toni and Carol were also in that class with us.

Bart and I had most of our classes together. We were still "Best Friends" (at least in my mind) and liked a lot of the same things. He had recently started going with a girl he went to church with named Cheryl. She was a senior at our school and a cousin to his ex-girlfriend, Dawn. She was different than most of the other girls, except for Dawn, as she always dressed in skirts and dresses. Some of the other girls occasionally wore skirts, but she and Dawn wore them ALL the time.

Even though I had my driver's license, I still rode the bus to school (bummer). Seeing that we were down to only one car, as Dad's green Cadillac had bitten the dust, my parents needed it to get back and forth to work in Westerville. Since I was one of the "older" kids on the bus, I hung out at the back. The 40 minute ride to school and the hour & half ride home was still the same.

There were wonderful things awaiting for me this coming year. The MOST wonderful thing that happened will be discussed in my next post.

Flashback Friday #248

Getting My Driver's License



Hello, all. Long time no see. I'm not going to get into why I was gone. I'm here again and that's all that matters.

As you can see from my title, this was a big day for me. Actually, it was a big four days. "Four days?", you may ask. Yes, let me explain.

I had driven many hours with Mom & Dad and it was time for me to go take my driver's test. Dad let me drive to our county seat. When we parked, we went into the Highway Patrol office to sign up. When it was my turn, a hulking officer escorted me out to our car. As I was backing out of the parking space, he barked "Stop the car!". Startled, I did. He said if I continued the course I was backing, I would scrape the car next to us. Oh boy. What a beginning.

He took me on some of the side streets And while driving, he would say "Turn left." or "Turn right." After one of the "Turn left." commands, he said, "We'll head back to the office now. You failed to stop at that stop sign back there." I didn't remember any stop sign. I figured if I argued with him, he could make my life very miserable. When we got back, I took the manuverability test. I was so rattled that I failed it miserably.

My second attempt went just about as good. I went left of center (I can't imagine that) and my second driver's test was toast. Ditto for the parking test. When I told a couple of my friends of the troubles that I had, they said that they had heard that the officer there didn't like giving driver's licenses to guys because he believed taht all guys want to hot-rod around. That was enough for me. I talked to my folks and we decided that we would go to a neighboring county to take my test the next time.

Now it was time to take my test again. third times the charm, right? When we got to the Highway Patol post, a very nice female officer took me out for my test. She questioned why I went out of county to take my test. I told her of my struggles with the big, burley officer. She smiled and said "I hope I don't make you nervous like that." She didn't. I passed the driving test, but once again, I failed the parallel parking test. Once again I headed back to the Highway Patrol office. I had already passed my driving test, so all I had to do was to take the parking test. No pressure or anything, but if you fail to get your license after four attempts, your driver's permit is invalidated and you have to start all over again. This time, I did pass and it was time to get my picture taken. When I got my license, I didn't care for the picture on it (who does?), but that didn't matter. I had my driver's license. Woo Hoo!!!

Flashback Friday #247

Witnessing A No-Hitter



Hello to all. Any one who knows me in real life knows that I'm a sports fan. I enjoy football, baseball, hockey, Olympics, and Genesis 26:8. That being said.There are certain things that happen in the sporting areanas that take special notice. One of those things in the no-hitter in baseball. It is a special thing to have faced the opposing batting order several times in a game and watch as each one trudges back to the dugout without a hit. it take grat skill and lots of luck to do this on the profesional level. It take even more when you're talking about girls slow-pitch softball.

Toni played softball for the local "city league" team. You needed a minimum of nine girls to have a team. Theirs had ten. If Toni wasn't in right field, she was on the bench. She platooned with another girl in right. All the other positions were set, especially pitcher.

Gina Queen was our school's version of "Big Ethel Muggs". For those of you that are unfamiliar with Big Ethel, she was the homely, super-athletic, wanna-be girlfriend of Jughead Jones in the "Archie" comics.

Gina was on fire that day.In softball the idea is to loft the ball up toward the plate and let the batter hit it. I don't know if she was adding some back-spin or what, but the batters weren't hitting the ball. Those that did manage to make contact were put out by a sure fielding team. That is until the final inning.

At the top of the last inning, the first batter flies out to center. The next batter makes contact and lofts a ball to short right field. I really don't remember if it was Toni or Becky playing at that moment, but the ball hits right at the tip of her glove , then bounces out for an error. The opposing team has a baserunner for the first time. The next batter hits a grounder to short. The shortstop gobbles up the ball, flips the the second baseman who then throws to first to complete the double play. Game over.

Gina lost out on the perfect game, but she got the no-hitter.

Flashback Friday #246

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same


Greetings to all who have ventured this way. I hope you came here on purpose, but if you didn't, you can read my drivel anyway.

Currently, in my storytelling, we pick up our story during the summer between 10th & 11th grades. During this summer I've (if you've been reading my blog, you already know this) taken Driver's Ed, Moved into a new house, and dated Kelly Stump (again, even though I told myself I wouldn't).

Another thing that happened during that summer was that Toni & I got back together.She rode over to my house one day on her bike and told me that she had to talk to me. She knew that I wasn't one to talk a lot on the phone, unlike Carol, who would call me and get mad because I wasn't talking. Hello, you called, you should do the talking. Anyway, she told me that all the other guys she dated after we broke up, none could hold a candle to me. I was unlike anyone she had ever met. Then she asked if we give it another try.

Of course, I said yes because I hated the fact that I didn't have a steady girlfriend. I also didn't have enough self-esteem to ask anyone else. Here was someone who was asking me. I'd be crazy to say no.

I learned later on, at my high school reunions, that there were some other girls that liked me but wouldn't or didn't say anything. In retrospect, if they had dropped a hint or two, I probably would have tripped over them and gone about my business.

Flashback Friday #245

It's My Party ad I'll...



Greetings to all. I have a special announcement to make. If you look in the "About Me" section, it no longer says that I am a 40 something year-old. Today, I hit the big 5-0. Since that is the case, I have a couple birthday stories to share with you that aren't long enough to make individual posts, but compiled, will do for today.

I could always remember when we moved into our big white house from the basement that we used to live in. I had gotten a birthday card that had a big 5 on it with a lion. I don't know what it was about that card, but I saved it for several years after. That means that we spent a total of 11 years in that house.

One year when I was fairly young. My paternal grandmother was going to make a birthday cake for me. She decided that she was going to make a coffee cake birthday cake (perhaps she didn't have the ingredients for icing?). All I knew was that I didn't like coffee, so having a cake that would taste like coffee wasn't appealing at all. I threw a fit until finally I got a real spanking for my birthday.

Lastly, on my 17th birthday, we had already moved from the house into the trailer. We were using the house for storage. Mom told me to go over to the house and get something (I don't remember what) out of her old bedroom. When I walked into that room. there stood a brand new ten-speed bike with a card on the seat with my name on it. Mom had bought a raffle ticket from a co-worker and won the bike earlier in the week. She figured that it would make a great birthday gift for me.

Doing the math, I've lived over 26 million minutes (not counting leap years). That sounds a lot older than 50 years.

Flashback Friday #244

Mr. Instructor's Favorite Story


In my last post, I discussed the Driver's Ed class that I was taking. My Driver's Ed teacher, Mr. Instructor, had a story that he like to tell all his beginning students. To set the mood, I need to tell you that the driving part of our class lasted two hours. Each of the four students in the car got 30 minutes of drive time. that means the other 90 minutes were spent riding with two others in the back seat. We were supposed to observe, not to chat and especially not to disrupt the driver. A ride like that could make someone sleepy, and that's where this story comes in.

Mr. Instructor had told the back seat kids to quietly observe & listen to what he was saying to the driver. One of the students observed all he could, then began observing the backs of his eyelids. His light snore gave him away to Mr. Instructor.

Mr. Instructor told the driver and those awake in the back that he was going to slam his brake on and scream "Whatch out for that tree!" The driver was told to expect the car to lurch and to make sure it was kept in control. Those in the back were advised to hang tight. At the count of three the plan was to commence.

1...2...3 "WATCH OUT FOR THAT TREE!" Skreech went the brakes. The guy in the back came awake rapidly and let out a scream. His scream was soon drowned out by the laughs of the others in the car.

He told us that story to advise us to remain alert while observing. None of us fell asleep during that class.

Flashback Friday #243

Driver's Ed



Hello. Care to take a stroll down memory lane with me? If you do, please make sure you look both ways before you cross seeing that there are some new drivers around here.

I told you back in Flashback Friday #219 getting my learner's permit to drive. One other thing that had to be done before I could get my driver's license was to take a driver's training course. My high school offered this class. I was put into a car with three other beginning drivers and an instructor that should have been awarded a medal of courage.

 His name was Mr. Instructor. He was a math teacher at the Junior High. He was also an assistant football coach. I had never had him for any classes while I was at in 7th or 8th grade. But he knew two of my fellow students.

Jeb Laton was a tall, lanky guy that had played football in Junior High so he was well known to Mr. Instructor. Lydia Duckling (whom Lady Nottaguy-TYG knew as Lydia Corridor when she worked with her) had not only been in Mr. Instructor's math class, but also in his home room. The other student driver was Cindy Sax. She had moved here about a year before. I knew her pretty well seeing that she was Toni's neighbor.

Seeing that I had never had Mr. Instructor for any classes, I figured he didn't know me. He said right off that he knew Jeb & Lydia. When he asked the names of his other two students, Cindy gave her's then I gave mine. A shock of revelation came across his face. He did know me, but he hadn't seen me since Junior High and I had lost twenty or so pounds since then. He said "I didn't recognize you". I had forgotten that near the end of my 8th grade year, I had wanted to play football, and got the physical sheet for the doctor to sign (see Flashback Friday #115). He must have done some scouting on those that had signed up. He would have been my coach if my parents would have allowed me to play. He was quite impressed with the shape I was in.

But I digress. This is a post about driving, not football. We each hade to do several laps around the school parking lot before we were ever allowed to go out onto the open road. Mr. Instructor wanted to make sure that we knew all the controls so he wouldn't have to use the brake petal on his side. Prehaps that's why he still had dark hair. That or he had a good suppy of Grecian Formula.

Flashback friday #242

Kissing Your Sister




Hello. Once again I will either enthrall you with tales of a wild upbringing or bore you to sleep. Either way, here goes.

As you have read in earlier posts (and if you haven't read any earlier posts, you really should), my love live in the 10th grade was erratic to say the least. When Toni broke up with me, instead of venturing to new and better adventures, I chose to walk a path that was familiar. And Kelly was there to facilitate my every step.

Kelly not only had been "around the block", she had been around the entire city. She dated several guys in several different towns at the same time. I knew this going in, but desperation make you do strange things.

One day we were going to a semi-large city that was about 40 minutes away. We were going to see a movie or something. We wound up doing the something. We met one of Kelly's friends on the way and went to her house. There we met a girl that knew that Kelly had a boyfriend in that town and knew him well. She wanted to know what she was doing with me in tow.

Kelly quickly made up the story that I was her brother. Her real mother (she had been adopted) had given her up because she felt she was too young to care for a baby. Shortly thereafter, she got pregnant again and once again gave that baby up for adoption (that would be me). We only had recently discovered that we were sister and brother due to a geneology project we had to do for Social Studies. Believe it or not, they took the story hook, line & sinker.

Later, I asked her "Does it feel odd, kissing your brother?" Her reply was "Shut up and kiss me again."

Flashback Friday #241

My Class Ring (Part III)


Greetings, one and all. It is highly unusual for me to have a post go into three segments, but this will be my third about my class ring. I described it in my first post (Flashback Friday #233) and told of what I did with it (Flashback Friday #234) but you have yet to see it.

The reason you haven't seen it yet, is because it wasn't where I thought it was. I recently came across it and took a few pictures to show you.

This is the first side view. It has my initals on a red and blue shield. Red and blue were our school colors.

This is the second side. It shows our school mascot. It's a "Fighting Scot". He looks a bit tipsy to me. Perhaps that's why he's fighting.

Finally, here is a good look at the stone. You'll notice that it's not my birthstone. I'm not a big fan of topaz.

This ring used to fit on the ring finger of my right hand. It now fits my pinky on the same hand. It must have shrunk.

Flashback Friday #240

An Overnight Guest



Welcome back for another helping of menutia.

The the last Flashback Friday post, I told you about moving into our new digs. We had moved in everything we had planned to move for the time being and evryone had gone their own ways. It wasn't dark yet, but dusk was setting in. As I was heading into the house from the trailer, I heard someone call out my name.

I looked up and one of the guys that I went to school with, was riding down the road on his bike. Jon coasted to a stop and we chatted for a few minutes. While we chatted, neither of us had noticed how dark the clouds were getting. Suddenly, a storm broke out and both of us headed for the trailer for shelter.

Mom didn't like the idea of Jon riding his bike home in the dark during a storm. His bike was too big to fit into the Pinto, so Mom asked him if he'd like to spend the night. He said he'd have to call home first. His folks were relieved to know that he wouldn't be riding his bike in the storm (he lived about four miles away).

I had never had anyone spend the night with me that I wasn't related to. Aunt Shelly's kids were over several times during the month to spend the night. Since my bed was now a bunk bed, there would be a place for a friend to sleep without sleeping with me or sleeping on the floor.

I always thought that it was funny that the very first night in our new home was spent with a visitor.

Flashback Friday #239

Move In Day


Greetings to all. It's nice to see you again (even though I really can't, but that's something completly different).

In my last few Flashback Friday posts, I told you of Dad buying a trailer and moving it onto our land. We had been living in a large, old house, but now it was time for a change. Dad worked on getting the water and electricity up & going every night after work.I don't remember why, but somehow I got out of digging the ditch to run the water & sewer. It was dug by hand.

Once everything was hooked up, we had the daunting task of trying to fit everything that was in our house into the trailer. I remember several of Dad's friends and many of Aunt Shelly's kids coming over to help us move. If it wasn't attached, someone was asking "Does this go?" or "Where do you want this?"

When I say "move", it's just a relative term. It was all of 30 feet or so from the front door of the house to the door of the trailer. My parent's bed was moved in and then set up in their room. The bed nearly took up the whole room. There was room to walk between the side of the bed and the built-in dresser, but you had to stand on the bed to get anything out of the closet. I don't remember too many things that were in the closet being worn very often.

My closet was a direct contrast to their's. I hung everything I could and you could readily get to it. Seeing that my new room was a fraction of the size of my old one, I had to do something. It also served as a shelf for my stereo. If you opened my far closet door, my stereo sat there on the closet floor (which was about level with the top of my mattress). My record albums (remember those?) stood up beside the stereo with the 8-track tapes (If you don't remember albums, you won't remember 8-tracks).in a box behind. There was about a two foot section between the end of my bed and the wall that became a "catch-all".

Once the bedrooms were decked out, work began on the living room. We had a sleeper sofa that weighed a ton, and it took several of Aunt Shelly's kids to move it. It went into the "pop-out" section of the trailer. Just lik Archie & Edith, Mom & Dad each had a favorite chair. They were mpved beneath the large mirror, facing the kitchen. The TV went in front of the cut-away section of the kitchen wall, on the back side of the sink counter. Mom said if she was cooking and talking to Dad, he would at least look like he was listening to her while he watched TV.

The kitchen was the last to be moved. As the kitchen table was being moved into place, two of Aunt Shelly's kids bonked their heads on the tiffany light that was to hang over table. The second knocked a piece of glass out and it went into a drawer, one day to be repaired. Once all the food, dishes and cookware was brought over, we were ready for our first night in our new place.

Flashback Friday #238

Were Moving? (Part II)



Hello. It's so nice to have you drop by again. Pull up a seat, grab a snack and lets get going.

In my last post, I told you that I'd give you the description of our new residence. Here comes. For starters, it was a 1972 model (but I can't remember the manufacturer). Since this was 1980, the trailer was only eight years old (I didn't even have to use my fingers for that). It was aqua & white and had a front enterance that led directly into the living room.

As you walk into the living room, the first thing that catches your attention is the orange shag carpet. The carpet in the old house was a gray berber, so this took some getting used to. The living room had a pop-out section that made it wider than the rest of the trailer. As you look up, and to the right, there is a series of small windows in a raised section of the roof, kind of like a small skylight. To the left, there's a huge mirror on the wall (to make it look bigger?)

The kitchen was on the left as you walked in. The same aqua that was on the outside is also on the inside on the refrigerator and stove. A tiffany lamp hangs from the ceiling where the table was to be. There was an air conditioner unit in the kitchen. This was the first time we had ever had air conditioning.

As you walked through the living room and entered the hallway, my bedroom was the first door on the right. It was less than half the size of my old room. I could extend my arms and touch the side of my bed and the other wall, which was a built in closet with two sets of two drawers beneath it. I would be going from a double bed down to a twin size. However, the twin size bed was actually a set of bunkbeds.

The next room on the right was the bathroom. Guess what? More aqua,. All the fixtures (sink, tub & toilet) were aqua. The washer & dryer also went here.

Across from the bathroom door was the "back door". I guess it was built like this in case someone fouled the bathroom so bad, that it needed to be aired out. Don't laugh, we actually did that a time or two.

Lastly came mom & dad's room. They had a series of built in shelves/dressers on one side and their clost on the other.There was also room for their double bed. A second air conditioning unit sat in their window. With both units on, that tin can stayed pretty cool. Seeing that they rarely slept with their door shut in the old house (seeing that they didn't have one), keeping thier door open at night wasn't a problem.

It was going to be a chore fiting all the stuff from our house into that trailer. It was going to be such a chore that it never was finished. The old house became a large "storage shed".

Flashback Friday #237

We're Moving?


Welcome all to another exciting post about my teenage yeras. It's almost as much fun as watching paint dry. Anyway, today's post deals with us moving.

All my life I had lived in the same place. I remember the brown house that we lived in before we built the basement to what would be Dad's "Dream house" That was directly behind the brown house. We lived in that for a year while the brown house was beind demolished. Plans were to add onto the basement until it became a whole, habital house. This never happened. The old man that lived next door died and Dad was able to buy his property at a really good price. We moved from the small basement with blankets serving as walls to a full house. Dad filled in the basement and covered it up.

Dad was forever making changes & inprovements on this house. Not all changes were improvements. Like George Baily's house in "It's A Wonderful Life", our house was an old, drafty house. During the winters, we normally hung a blanket in the doorway and spent most of the time in the living room. That way we didn't have to heat the whole house to a comfortable temperature. Needless to say, nobody stayed long in the bathroom (that is after a bathroom was installed, about five years after we moved in). Entry door locations were moved. Room locations moved. Changes all the time.

We lived in that house from the time I was five until the day Dad came home and told me we were moving. This was less than six months away from my 17th birthady. Moving? We can't move. All my friends are here. I've seen how the new kids at school acted. I didn't want to go through that. Would we be moving closer to Westerville so my folks wouldn't have such a long drive? Dad was very closed mouth about it.

No wonder he was closed mouth about it. Shortly after he told me we were moving, a semi-truck pulled up with our new house. We were going to move into a house trailer. Dad had purchased a trailer and pulled it in next to the house. He said as soon as he got the water, heat & electricity hooked up, we'd be moving in. He let us take a quick tour as soon as it was stabilized. A complete description of our new digs comes in my next post.

Flashback Friday #236

I Read It In The Yearbook (Part II)



Welcome back. I know you've all been waiting with bated breath for the conclusion to this saga. My question is, why have you been eating bait?

Anyway, I told you of a signature in my yearbook that caused me to pause and really wonder about a possible break-up. You saw in my last post that it wasn't the one from my girlfriend, Toni, that I was refering to. It came from my best friend Bart. It reads as follows:

"To (my real name), A very good friend of mine that I could do without for a while. Have fun with Toni as long as it last. You better make sure that's pretty long because she is a real sweet girl. Not as sweet as Dawn though (they hadn't broken up at the time of this writing)."

Oookaay. I'm not to sure about that first sentance. My best friend is saying that he could do without me for a while? What's up with that? I wonder if it has anything to do with him & his family getting all churchy or am I really that annoying? I really like Bart and I'd hate to lose him as a friend. What am I to do?

Flashback Friday #235

I Read It In The Yearbook



Greetings one and all and welcome to the online cure for insomnia.

There's an old Marvin Gaye song called "Heard It through The Grapevine" about a guy hearing from his friends about a coming break up. What does that have to do with my post? Glad you asked.

It's tradition that when the yearbooks come in, you have you friends sign it. I always had my named embossed on the cover to make sure I got mine back. The yearbooks came in while Toni & I were still dating, so you'll see that in some of the notations. Here are a few of the things that were written about me during my Sophomre year. All are actual quotes except for the "To (my actual name),".

"Your a real sweet guy who knows what your doing.Stay cool. Love ya!"

"A nice guy I like alot. Good luck in the future. Say HI to Mr. Magoo for you. I hope we will be friends always. Good luck always."

"To a real nice guy who is a lot of laughs.Good luck in life.I have a feeling you'll need it."

"To a neat nice far-out kid that I have know for a long, long time and hope we will always be friends. Good luck with whomever."

"To a super cool guy who's got taste cause we both like Cheech & Chong. Good Luck always."

"To a good friend. Good luck with everything and everyone you want!"

"A real cool guy & funny too. Good luck with Toni. Stay the way you are."

"To a real nice guy that is C-O-O-L."

"To a very nice guy. I hope that we will always be friends. Good luck always and with everything you do. Remember me always."

"To a very strange & weird person who is one of my friends."

And then there was this from Toni:
"To a very nice boyfriend who I really like & admire, you're the best as far as I'm concerned, you won't have to worry about me disappointing you cause I never will. When I leave next year, please keep in touch (if I decide to ) I never forget you.

OK, My girlfriend is talking about leaving. She didn't say anyhing to me about that. I read about it in my yearbook. However, that's not the really odd signage in my yearbook. More about that in my next post.